Family: Man, Girl, Boy Emoji
U+1F468 U+200D U+1F467 U+200D U+1F466:family_man_girl_boy:About Family: Man, Girl, Boy 👨👧👦
Family: Man, Girl, Boy () is part of the People & Body group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E4.0. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.
Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode.
Often associated with boy, child, family, and 2 more keywords.
Meaning varies across cultures, see cultural notes below.
Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.
How it looks
What does it mean?
A man with a daughter and a son. The single-dad emoji, though it doesn't have to be. It could be a father spending the day with his kids while mom's at work, an uncle with his niece and nephew, or an older brother looking after siblings. But the most common reading is a solo dad raising two kids.
This emoji carries quiet significance. There are roughly 2.5 million single-father households in the US (Census, 2023), a number that's doubled since 1970. About 3 million children live with a single father. These families have historically been underrepresented in media and emoji libraries alike. The family emoji set launched in 2015 with two-parent combinations first; single-parent configurations like this one provided representation that filled a real gap.
As of iOS 17.4 (March 2024), all family emojis on iPhones render as grey silhouettes. The colorful dad-with-kids image is gone on Apple devices, though Android and Windows still show the original.
Father's Day is this emoji's biggest moment. Single dads and involved fathers use it to celebrate their role. It also shows up in parenting content, dad-life humor, and weekend activity posts.
On TikTok, dad content is one of the fastest-growing parenting niches. Single-dad creators share custody routines, hair tutorials for daughters, school-run chaos, and cooking for kids. The emoji fits naturally into that world.
In workplace Slack, it signals "I'm with the kids" as a status, particularly during school holidays or when a co-parent is unavailable.
A man with a daughter and a son. Commonly used for single-father families, dads spending time with kids, or any male caregiver with two children.
Single-father households in the US
Emoji combos
Origin story
Single-parent family emojis were part of the broader Emoji 2.0 expansion in 2015. The ZWJ sequence (Man + ZWJ + Girl + ZWJ + Boy, 5 codepoints) allowed platforms to compose this specific configuration without needing a dedicated codepoint.
Single fathers have been underrepresented in pop culture for decades. The stereotype of the incompetent dad fumbling through childcare persists in advertising and media, even as the number of single-father households doubled since 1970. Having an emoji for a dad with his kids, without a partner in the frame, quietly normalizes what millions of families already look like.
The 2024 iOS silhouette redesign affected this emoji. On iPhones, it now renders as a generic adult-with-two-children silhouette, losing the gendered specificity that made it meaningful as a single-dad representation.
Design history
Around the world
In Western countries, single fatherhood is increasingly normalized but still carries stigma. Men who are primary caregivers report being praised for "babysitting their own children" in ways that reinforce the idea that childcare is women's work.
In Latin America and parts of Asia, extended family networks often mean a single father isn't truly solo. Grandparents, aunts, and cousins share the caregiving. The emoji's three-person frame doesn't capture that reality.
In some Middle Eastern and African cultures, single fatherhood is less common due to family structure norms, but widowed fathers raising children alone are deeply respected.
About 2.5 million single-father households (2023 Census), raising approximately 3 million children. The number has doubled since 1970.
Do's and don'ts
- ✗Don't assume the man is a single father — he could be any male caregiver
- ✗Avoid using it in contexts that reinforce the 'incompetent dad' stereotype
Not necessarily. It could be a single dad, a father on his own for the day, an uncle, or an older brother. The absence of a partner is how it's composed, but context determines the meaning.
Caption ideas
Aesthetic sets
Fun facts
- •About 3 million US children live with a single father (2023). For context, that's roughly the population of Chicago.
- •Single-father households have doubled since 1970, but they still account for only about 25% of single-parent families. The remaining 75% are single-mother households.
- •The emoji is a 5-codepoint ZWJ sequence: Man + ZWJ + Girl + ZWJ + Boy. On devices without ZWJ support, it renders as three separate people: 👨👧👦.
In pop culture
- •Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) starred Robin Williams as a divorced father who disguises himself as an elderly female housekeeper to spend more time with his children. The film grossed $441 million and remains the most famous single-dad movie in history.
- •Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) won Best Picture for its portrayal of a father learning to raise his son alone after his wife leaves. Dustin Hoffman's performance changed how Hollywood depicted fatherhood.
- •The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) told the true story of Chris Gardner (Will Smith), a single homeless father raising his son while pursuing a career in finance. It earned Smith an Oscar nomination.
- •Full House (1987-1995) featured a widowed father raising three daughters with help from his brother-in-law and best friend. It ran for 8 seasons and became one of the most iconic family sitcoms.
Trivia
For developers
- •ZWJ sequence: + + + + . Five codepoints, one glyph.
- •No skin tone support on most platforms. Only Microsoft Windows supports skin-tone family emojis.
- •On iOS 17.4+, renders as a generic silhouette. Screen readers still announce 'family: man, girl, boy.'
Apple changed all family emojis to grey silhouettes in iOS 17.4 (March 2024). The underlying codepoints still specify man, girl, boy.
Not on most platforms. Microsoft Windows is the only major platform that supports skin-tone modifiers for family emojis.
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
When do you use 👨👧👦?
Select all that apply
Related Emojis
More People & Body
Share this emoji
2,000+ emojis deeply researched. One click to copy. No ads.
Open eeemoji →